Stanley A. 'Jimmy' Makowski, businessman

Stanley A. "Jimmy" Makowski, founder of National Press of Baltimore and a decorated World War II veteran, died June 21 of heart failure at his Perry Hall home.

He was 93.

Mr. Makowski, one of eight children, was born and raised in Canton. He was a graduate of Polytechnic Institute.

Drafted in 1941, he was assigned to the 28th Infantry Division and landed at Normandy on June 6, 1944.

After being wounded in the legs during the D-Day invasion, he was reassigned to division headquarters, where he was a supply clerk, and later an electrical technician in charge of a power plant and a demolition expert, said a son, Stephen Makowski of Perry Hall.

In December 1944, Mr. Makowski was captured by German soldiers and sent to a prison camp, where he was held for 113 days.

Mr. Makowski and other prisoners were forced to march through the snow, where they had to "dig in gravel and bury dead German soldiers," his son said.

After liberation, he was sent to Camp Lucky Star in France for rehabilitation before being shipped to the United States, where he was discharged in 1945.

His decorations included the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

After the war, Mr. Murkowski joined with a brother, Albert Makowski, and they became owners of Nuesinger's Famous Brewed Birch Beer, which had been founded in 1912.

His brother was brewmaster and they expanded from one route to six, with customers that included bars, clubs, restaurants and Carlin's Park, his son said.

In 1962, Mr. Makowski established National Press of Baltimore, an instant-printing concern, that had five copy centers in the city.

He retired in 1990 and gave the business to another son, Michael Makowski of York, Pa., who operates the company.

Mr. Makowski was vice president for a decade of the Statewide Democratic Club of Maryland and was a member of the Dundalk Chapter 21 of the Disabled American Veterans and the Charles Evering Post 6505 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The longtime Perry Hall resident was a communicant of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Fullerton, where a Mass of Christian burial was offered June 23.

Also surviving are his wife of 66 years, the former Helen J. Fonti; another son, Ronald Makowski of Perry Hall; two daughters, Donna Dajan and Angela Langrehr, both of Perry Hall; 14 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.